2012/13 Budget Savings Challenge
Budget savings - what you suggested... and what we plan to do
Due mainly to reductions in funding from Government, Pendle Council needs to reduce the amount of money it spends. Last year, we identified over £1m of savings. We now need to identify a further £1.75m of savings for 2012/13 to balance our budget.
The annual budget meeting of the Council Executive is taking place on the 9th February, and various ideas to make savings will be debated.
In October/November 2011 Feedback Online asked you for your ideas on how Pendle Council could save money. Since then, Pendle Council has considered all the savings ideas that were submitted and have responded to them.
You suggested:
- "Recover monies owed to the Council from those who do not obtain necessary planning permission". This is something that we already monitor monthly. We recover 97% of the debt we are owed, including that related to planning violations.
- "Turn off Council vehicle engines when they are not in use". We have a vehicle tracking system to make sure that the most economic routes are used.
- "Introduce car parking charges for town centres".We don't do this at the moment because of the possible effect it could have on encouraging and promoting local business. But we will be considering it again as our budget comes under increasing pressure
- "Charge for bulky waste collections". We included a proposal to charge for this in the 2012/13 budget, which was discussed by the full council at the budget meeting..
- "Work better as a team to provide an holistic approach to residents". We have a good record of service delivery and a lot of internal and external inspection systems in place.
